The Saga of the UTI/YI

March 17th, 2011 at 05:02 pm

About a week-and-a-half ago:

Started coming down with what felt like a yeast infection. (Squeamish alert) Thought I'd save myself some money and picked up an over-the-counter generic Monastat-type thing. Used it for 3 days as directed.

Result? None.

Called doc's office, by this time wanting to make sure I wouldn't have this thing, and be squirming in my seat, at my interview this past Wednesday. As you may know, I'm trying to avoid medical bills at all costs since my annual deductible with The Crappy Health Plan is $1500. She said, oh, you may have to come in to see the doctor, you haven't been here for over a year. I basically twisted her arm ("But I've been seeing Dr. so and so for 20 years!") and she called in a prescription without forcing me to see the doc.

Took the prescription for YI for 3 days.

Result? Nothing.

By this time, the supposed YI started feeling more like a UTI (instead of itchy/sore it was becoming more like "pressure.") I called the doctor's office again and made an appt. to see another doc as mine wasn't available. She took a urine sample, which came back negative for infection. Huh??? She said everything looked ok. She said maybe the infection was on the verge of clearing up. I had mentioned that one of my symptoms was itchiness, so she ends up giving me a prescription cream for that and said we'll call you if the culture comes back testing positive on anything.

I dropped off the prescription at CVS, planning to pick it up at lunch time. By lunchtime, I was feeling rather asymptomatic and I thought to myself, i really didn't want a cream for itchiness, that was just a secondary symptom and I can tough that out. I wanted to save myself the $$ for that, so I called CVS to see if i could cancel that med and they said ok.

But the next day, my symptoms were back in force; in fact, i had trouble sleeping and it was feeling more and more like a UTI now. I suddenly realized i happened to have some Uristat pills in the bathroom. I popped 2 and slept like a baby.

Next a.m., I called the doc office back again and told her of my evolving symptoms and how well i felt after taking the Uristat, which is used to treat symptoms of UTIs (but not cure them). And on the other hand, I'd been gulping probiotics and eating yogurt when i thought it was a YI and hadn't noticed any improvement. So all things pointing to a UTI now.

She said ok, i can call in a prescription for UTI, but you need to drop off another urine sample at Quest, that maybe i had just caught it too early when i did the first urine culture and that's why it didn't register. I did that today, and picked up my 3rd prescription. Popped a pill, and about an hour later, I see the inside of my lower arm breaking out in hives. Great. Allergic reaction!

Back on the phone with nurse, who said, bummer.I'll call in another med and you'd better stop taking that other one. Got the 4th med tonight and will start it tonight. God willing, it will work.

This will go down in history as the most expensive UTI I've ever had, costing me 4 prescriptions, 1 doctor's office visit and 2 lab tests, plus I'll be paying 100% for everything with my high deductible not yet being met.

My job interview with D******* yesterday went pretty well, I think. Met with 2 people, both technical editors, and one of them being the person I'd report to. Plus i did another hour-long editing test. They seemed nice. She basically told me that regardless of what any of the job candidates say to her, the job will go to whoever does the best job on the editing test. Makes perfect sense, yet i wonder how i did compared to the other candidates? I have a fair amount of confidence as I'm very good at what I do, yet I still wonder...

I want the job, though when i asked the guy what he thought was the most challenging part of the job, he was pretty honest when he said, i guess just doing the same thing over and over again. He was a classics major in college and ended up as a technical editor. Two polar opposites, I'd say. He's been there for 8 years.

The woman said she thought the pay was pretty reasonable; i forget how that came up, but i certainly didn't ask her about pay.

I am aware that this job, unlike many I've had, won't be "creative" and could become fairly tedious or dull over time. Perhaps a little too one-dimensional, even, though being an introvert, I've always preferred pure writing jobs. This will definitely be a pure writing job.

But the pay and benefits will be very good, and the commute reasonable (35 minutes) and I figure, if I'm going to work, i may as well work for more pay rather than less pay. I feel that the number of years i have left to work full-time is finite, now, and that I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. That has a way of making a job that could be a bit dull seem doable.

I am very clear and very focused on my financial goals, near term and long-term, and that's what's driving my decision-making process.

7 Responses to “The Saga of the UTI/YI”

My sister had a similar occurance of events last year that never was pinned down to a UTI or YI. It took three antibiotics and one she was allergic too making her symptoms worse. I'm so sorry you have gone through that.

Ugh, feel better! Quite often my UTIs are indetectible by the regular test because I'm so sensitive to and aware of the symptoms, plus I drink water like a mofo when I feel one coming on so my sample is really diluted. Usually they give me the meds anyway. Once they sent my sample on for a further test and confirmed that yes, there was a UTI. So I'm confident in my ability to detect one even when the regular test doesn't.

I get frequent UTI's as well. They are not pleasant. But I also went through a stage where it felt like a UTI or yeast infection and it wasn't either. Turned out I was allergic to either the toilet paper I was using or the laundry soap. I changed them both and have had no problems since.

Sorry about that nasty UTI, and I hope the meds lead to some relief. The high insurance deductible absolutely bites, what a pain... that whole situation sounds like no fun at all. Good luck with that job, and it sounds like you have some insurance of being able to view things systematically overall. I wish you well!
Jerry

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